Her eyeballs moved in their sockets extreme left and right; a strand of hair was in her cappuccino. I wondered if we were being followed.
"No," I breathed.
"Get it. It's basically porn. Huge in the States. Fabulous."
In the weeks that have passed since our conversation, E L James' trilogy, an erotic tale set in America of two lovers, has become a chart-topping phenomenon.
I know - I'm behind the times. Fifty Shades has spread like wildfire, igniting the nether regions of women all over the world.
My excuse? Getting married then honeymooning in Italy for most of May, where I read the classics. Silly me.
My reasoning for buying the first in the series upon return, was manifold. Well it would be. I'm British and female - I can't just gleefully rub my knees and tell you with husky voice that I want to read about sex.
I was also intrigued as to how something that is "basically porn" could achieve this mainstream success, knocking mighty The Hunger Games off the top spot after a 16-week reign in the U.S.
As a novelist who is toiling with the writing of sex scenes in her second book - having already had a few juicy episodes published in my first (Scandalous, published by Penguin) - my interest was piqued.
Completing even a sentence involving sex that is not cringe-worthy is tricky and I wanted to know just how E L James did it; how she had captivated so many people throughout what - my friend promised - was most of the book.
One hundred pages in and there was still no sex. It wasn't even very well written - not badly, but a bit immaturely. The character of the narrator, Ana, may only be 21 but a teenage Katniss manages clarity and wisdom in the sci-fi adventure trilogy The Hunger Games - though the books are obviously wildly different.
But every fifth word could have been Yugoslavian and I would still have kept reading because E L James' ability to build anticipation to the climax - or Ana's - is top drawer.
As I say, from experience I know good sex is very hard to write - more of that in a moment.
And this is precisely why my respect for E L James rocketed, circa page 113, paragraph two. Not that it's etched in my head.
She excels at sex - pages of it. She has you in the palm of her hand, feeling every sensation experienced by Ana at the hands of young billionaire Christian Grey.
Full piece here.
"No," I breathed.
"Get it. It's basically porn. Huge in the States. Fabulous."
In the weeks that have passed since our conversation, E L James' trilogy, an erotic tale set in America of two lovers, has become a chart-topping phenomenon.
I know - I'm behind the times. Fifty Shades has spread like wildfire, igniting the nether regions of women all over the world.
My excuse? Getting married then honeymooning in Italy for most of May, where I read the classics. Silly me.
My reasoning for buying the first in the series upon return, was manifold. Well it would be. I'm British and female - I can't just gleefully rub my knees and tell you with husky voice that I want to read about sex.
I was also intrigued as to how something that is "basically porn" could achieve this mainstream success, knocking mighty The Hunger Games off the top spot after a 16-week reign in the U.S.
As a novelist who is toiling with the writing of sex scenes in her second book - having already had a few juicy episodes published in my first (Scandalous, published by Penguin) - my interest was piqued.
Completing even a sentence involving sex that is not cringe-worthy is tricky and I wanted to know just how E L James did it; how she had captivated so many people throughout what - my friend promised - was most of the book.
One hundred pages in and there was still no sex. It wasn't even very well written - not badly, but a bit immaturely. The character of the narrator, Ana, may only be 21 but a teenage Katniss manages clarity and wisdom in the sci-fi adventure trilogy The Hunger Games - though the books are obviously wildly different.
But every fifth word could have been Yugoslavian and I would still have kept reading because E L James' ability to build anticipation to the climax - or Ana's - is top drawer.
As I say, from experience I know good sex is very hard to write - more of that in a moment.
And this is precisely why my respect for E L James rocketed, circa page 113, paragraph two. Not that it's etched in my head.
She excels at sex - pages of it. She has you in the palm of her hand, feeling every sensation experienced by Ana at the hands of young billionaire Christian Grey.
Full piece here.
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